Matthew Morton

Matthew H Morton is a Research Fellow at Chapin Hall. At Chapin Hall, among other responsibilities, Dr. Morton develops and works on strategic policy research initiatives related to youth and community development and youth homelessness. He draws on diverse research and policy experiences to help clients and stakeholders tackle complex vulnerable youth and poverty challenges with a commitment to integrating rigorous, practical evidence into day-to-day decisions at multiple levels.

Prior to coming to Chapin Hall, Dr. Morton was an Economist & Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank. He led and worked on research, evaluations, and projects with government partners on women’s economic empowerment and social safety nets for poor families in Afghanistan, and on youth empowerment and employment and social protection systems in India. Dr. Morton also worked in the World Bank’s global Gender & Development unit. Before joining the World Bank through its Young Professionals Program, Dr. Morton served as Special Advisor on evidence-based policy in the US Government’s Administration for Children & Families where he aided in the development of the US strategy to end youth homelessness, policy priorities around child trauma, and various efforts to integrate evidence-based practice into government policy and funding.

Since he was himself an adolescent, Dr. Morton has established numerous youth development programs and held volunteer and leadership roles advocating for runaway, homeless, and other vulnerable youth in the US and abroad. He serves as an Associate-Member of the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention.

Dr. Morton holds a D.Phil. and M.Sc. in Evidence-Based Social Intervention & Policy Evaluation from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in Political Science from Stetson University.